Display monitor integrated down light

ABSTRACT

An information handling system peripheral display monitor presents visual images at a liquid crystal display panel with illumination distributed across the display panel by a backlight. A light bar of plural light emitting diodes (LEDs) at a bottom side surface of the backlight directs illumination into the backlight from an upper surface and includes plural downlight LEDs on a bottom surface to direct illumination out a downlight opening formed in a housing of the display monitor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates in general to the field of informationhandling system peripheral display monitors, and more particularly to aninformation handling system display monitor integrated down light.

Description of the Related Art

As the value and use of information continues to increase, individualsand businesses seek additional ways to process and store information.One option available to users is information handling systems. Aninformation handling system generally processes, compiles, stores,and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or otherpurposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of theinformation. Because technology and information handling needs andrequirements vary between different users or applications, informationhandling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled,how the information is handled, how much information is processed,stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the informationmay be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in informationhandling systems allow for information handling systems to be general orconfigured for a specific user or specific use such as financialtransaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage,or global communications. In addition, information handling systems mayinclude a variety of hardware and software components that may beconfigured to process, store, and communicate information and mayinclude one or more computer systems, data storage systems, andnetworking systems.

Information handling systems integrate processing components thatcooperate to process information, typically for presentation at adisplay. On common type of display is a liquid crystal display (LCD),which generates visual images with liquid crystal pixels that filterillumination provided from a backlight. LCD's provide excellent visualimages with large surface areas and even curved surface areas, whichmakes LCD's a popular choice for a wide variety of applications. Forinstance, LCD flat panel monitors are commonly found in enterprises tosupport business operations, such as word processing, communications andenterprise specific applications. LCD flat panel monitors are alsocommonly found in home systems where they are used to presententertainment, such as multimedia movies.

One advantage of LCD monitors is that the LCD flat panels fit intominimalist housings. Having a reduced housing size tends to reduce theweight of the monitor and also the awkwardness of moving the monitor forplacement in a desktop space. A peripheral display monitor tends to havea more aesthetically appealing appearance where the visual imagespresented by the display panel extends across the entire front surfaceof the monitor. To achieve this appearance, manufacturers attempt tosupport LCD panels in housings with a minimal bezel at all four sides ofthe housing.

One distinct user population of high quality LCD monitors is the gamingpopulation. Gaming applications typically rely upon high quality visualimage presentation. Often gamers seek display monitors that have notjust high quality images but also effects presented at the monitorhousing, such as illumination at the display monitor base. FIG. 6depicts a prior art DELL 3SNB display monitor that provides downlightillumination at the base of a display monitor housing 32 while abacklight 40 illuminates visual images at a display panel with backlightLED's 42. To provide downlight illumination, a downlight LED 46 isaligned with a window 66 to illuminate at the display monitor housingbase. A difficulty with this arrangement is that the downlight LEDconsumes vertical space at the base of the display monitor housing, thusincreasing the size of the housing and negatively impacting the end userexperience.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, a need has arisen for a system and method which providesillumination at a display monitor housing base.

In accordance with the present invention, a system and method areprovided which substantially reduce the disadvantages and problemsassociated with previous methods and systems for providing illuminationat a display monitor housing base. A light bar that providesillumination to a backlight for presenting images to a display panelincludes backlight LED's at a printed circuit board upper surfacedirected into the backlight and downlight LED's at the printed circuitboard lower surface directed out a downlight opening of the displaymonitor housing to provide external illumination at the monitor housingbase.

More specifically, an information handling system processes informationwith processing components disposed in a housing, such as CPU andmemory, and presents the visual information at a display monitor, suchas a peripheral display monitor interfaced through a display cable. Forinstance, the information handling system communicates visual images aspixel values to a display panel that generates the visual images withillumination provided by a backlight assembly, such as a backlightdisposed behind the display panel that receives illumination from alight bar coupled to a bottom side surface of the backlight. The lightbar has a printed circuit board with backlight LED's coupled to an upperside and directed against a bottom side surface of the backlight anddownlight LED's coupled to a lower side and directed towards an openingin the display monitor housing to provide illumination external to thedisplay monitor. A light guide disposed in the display monitor housingopening and against the backlight LED's directs the illumination in adesired manner. For example, the light guide has a light guide platewith a truncated pyramid shape and reflectors on opposing sides thatdirect the illumination at a desktop surface on which the displaymonitor rests.

The present invention provides a number of important technicaladvantages. One example of an important technical advantage is that adisplay monitor provides illumination at a housing base whilemaintaining a minimal housing structure, such as a reduced bezel sizealong the bottom side of the display monitor housing. A set of downlightLED's couples to a bottom surface of a light bar circuit board havingbacklight LED's at an upper surface so that power and control of thedownlight LED's may be provided through the backlight light bar printedcircuit board. Coupling the downlight LED's to the light bar printedcircuit board minimize the vertical space consumed in the monitorhousing to provide downlight illumination. A light guide disposed in anopening of the monitor housing at an opening aligned with the downlightLED's directs downlight illumination in a desired manner to provide anenhanced end user experience.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention may be better understood, and its numerousobjects, features and advantages made apparent to those skilled in theart by referencing the accompanying drawings. The use of the samereference number throughout the several figures designates a like orsimilar element.

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of an information handling systeminterfaced with a display monitor that supports downlight illumination;

FIG. 2 depicts a side cutaway view of a display monitor housing having adownlight opening for directing illumination to the exterior of thedisplay monitor housing;

FIG. 3 depicts a side perspective view of a light bar configured toprovide bidirectional illumination to a backlight and to display monitorhousing exterior;

FIG. 4 depicts an exploded perspective view of a light guide to directillumination from a display monitor housing opening to an exteriorlocation;

FIG. 5 depicts a side cutaway view of a light guide aligned forinsertion into the display monitor housing; and

FIG. 6 depicts an example of a prior art peripheral display monitor thatprovides downlight illumination.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An information handling system display monitor provides a downlight froma light bar through a light guide disposed in an opening of the displaymonitor housing and at a support surface. For purposes of thisdisclosure, an information handling system may include anyinstrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operable to compute,classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate, switch,store, display, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, or utilizeany form of information, intelligence, or data for business, scientific,control, or other purposes. For example, an information handling systemmay be a personal computer, a network storage device, or any othersuitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality,and price. The information handling system may include random accessmemory (RAM), one or more processing resources such as a centralprocessing unit (CPU) or hardware or software control logic, ROM, and/orother types of nonvolatile memory. Additional components of theinformation handling system may include one or more disk drives, one ormore network ports for communicating with external devices as well asvarious input and output (I/O) devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, anda video display. The information handling system may also include one ormore buses operable to transmit communications between the varioushardware components.

Referring now to FIG. 1 , a block diagram depicts an informationhandling system 10 interfaced with a display monitor 30 that supportsdownlight illumination. In the example embodiment, information handlingsystem 10 has a desktop configuration with a fixed housing 12 holdingprocessing components that cooperate to process information. Forexample, a motherboard 14 couples to housing 12 and supportscommunication between processing components with integrated wirelines. Acentral processing unit (CPU) 16 executes instructions to processinformation in cooperation with a random access memory (RAM) 18 thatstores the instructions and information. A solid state drive (SSD) 20 orother non-transient storage device provides persistent storage of theinstructions and information during power down of the system. Forinstance, SSD stores an operating system and applications that areretrieved to RAM 18 at power up for execution on CPU 16. An embeddedcontroller 22 manages physical operation of the processing components,such as application of power, management of thermal constraints andinteractions with input/output devices. A graphics processing unit (GPU)24 interfaces with CPU 16 to further process information for generatingvisual images for presentation at display monitor 30. For instance, GPU24 defines visual images with pixel values that determine colorspresented at pixels 36 of display monitor 30 and communicates the pixelvalues through graphics ports 26 and a graphics cable 28. In the exampleembodiment, information handling system 10 has a desktop configurationinterfaced through a cable with a peripheral display monitor 30,however, in alternative embodiments portable or other types ofinformation handling systems may generate pixel values and communicatethe pixel values through wireless or other communication mediums.

Peripheral display monitor 30 presents visual images with a displaypanel 34 having plural pixels 36 that each provide a color based upon apixel value scanned to the pixels from a timing controller 50, whichaccepts the pixel values from graphics port 26. In the exampleembodiment, display panel 34 is a liquid crystal display (LCD) havingliquid crystal pixels 36 that adjust their crystalline state to filterlight provided by a backlight 40 coupled behind display panel 34. Forinstance, backlight 40 has a conventional structure of a light guidewith an optical quality acrylic substrate or similar material capturedin a reflector and diffuser to provide an even illumination across theback side of display panel 34 so that pixels 36 have a well-distributedillumination that provides an intended visual image. A glass cover 38 onthe front of display panel 34 provides protection against impacts. Ascalar 48 and timing controller 50 include processing resources thatexecute code stored in flash memory or other non-transient memory toscan visual images to pixels 36. A light bar 42 couples to a bottom sidesurface of backlight 40 and has plural distributed backlight LED's 44that provide illumination into backlight 40, such as based upon commandsand power provided by scalar 48 and/or timing controller 50. Light bar42 also has plural downlight LED's coupled to a lower side and directedtowards a base of monitor housing 32 where monitor housing 32 rests on asupport surface. Downlight LED's 46 provide illumination external tomonitor housing 32 through an opening in monitor housing 32 as describedin greater detail below. In various embodiments, illumination fromdownlight LED's 46 is controlled by instructions stored as firmware inflash memory of scalar 48, timing controller 50 and/or embeddedcontroller 22.

Referring now to FIG. 2 , a side cutaway view depicts a display monitorhousing 32 having a downlight opening 54 for directing illumination tothe exterior of the display monitor housing. In the example embodiment,backlight 40 receives illumination from light bar 42 with backlightLED's 44 coupled at the bottom side surface of backlight 40. Backlight40 distributes the illumination evenly across a display panel 34 toilluminate visual images generated by pixels and presented through coverglass 38. Timing controller 50 and scalar 48 interface with a printedcircuit board 58 of light bar 42 to control application of power toilluminate backlight LED's 44 and downlight LED's 46. Downlight opening54 formed in the base 52 of display monitor housing 32 provides a paththrough which illumination may pass from downlight LED's 46 through alight guide 56 for illumination below display monitor housing 32.Although the example embodiment directs downlight illumination at thedisplay monitor base, in alternative embodiments, light guide 56 maydirect the illumination in other directions, such as out the front sideof display monitor housing 32 or at the base offset forwards orbackwards. Light guide 56 is a material conductive of illumination, suchas an optical acrylic that directs and distributes illumination in adesired manner as described in greater detail below.

Referring now to FIG. 3 , a side perspective view depicts a light bar 42configured to provide bidirectional illumination to a backlight and todisplay monitor housing exterior. In the example embodiment, a printedcircuit board 58 has plural backlight LED's at an upper surface evenlydistributed across the length to provide evenly distributed illuminationto the backlight. Three downlight LED's 46 couple to the bottom surfaceof printed circuit board 58 at a central location that aligns with theopening of the display monitor housing. Three downlight LED's 46 provideflexibility for adjusting the brightness of exterior illumination, suchas by using each LED independently.

Referring now to FIG. 4 , an exploded perspective view depicts a lightguide to direct illumination from a display monitor housing opening toan exterior location. A light guide plate 60 promotes passage ofillumination, such as with an optically transmissive acrylic materialhaving an exposed upper surface to accept illumination and an exposedlower surface to transmit illumination to the housing exterior. In theexample embodiment, light guide plate 60 has a truncated pyramid shapewith a narrow upper surface and wide lower surface to promote a widerillumination pattern at the display monitor housing exterior. A pair ofreflectors 62 couple to the exterior side surface of light guide plate60 to conserve light energy and direct the light energy towards an exitat the wide bottom surface. Reflectors 62 have a black outer surfacethat suppresses light leakage. Patterning 64 formed in the outer surfaceof light guide plate 60 diffuses illumination to help promote efficientlight transmission towards the broad bottom surface and at the exterior.

Referring now to FIG. 5 , a side cutaway view depicts light guide 56aligned for insertion into the display monitor housing. In the exampleembodiment, light guide plate 60 has reflectors coupled to the sidesurfaces and is sized to fit into opening 54. Rather than coupling intoopening 54 with a fixed orientation, light guide 56 may fit into amoveable brace to allow an end user to control the direction ofillumination that exits to the housing exterior. In one exampleembodiment, logic executing on a processing resource of the display mayprovide an automated control of the illumination vector at the displaymonitor housing exterior.

Although the present invention has been described in detail, it shouldbe understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can bemade hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the inventionas defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An information handling system comprising: ahousing; a processor disposed in the housing and operable to executeinstructions that process information; a memory disposed in the housingand operable to store the instructions and information; an embeddedcontroller interfaced with the processor and operable to manage physicaloperating conditions within the housing; a graphics processor interfacedwith the processor and operable to further process the information togenerate pixel values that define visual images; a graphics portinterfaced with the graphics processor and operable to couple to agraphics cable to communicate the pixel values to a peripheral displaymonitor; a peripheral display monitor having a monitor housing, adisplay panel coupled to the monitor housing and having pixels operableto present the visual images with the pixel values, a graphics portoperable to couple to the graphics cable, a controller interfacing thegraphics port and the display panel to manage presentation of the visualimages, a backlight coupled to the display panel to illuminate thepixels, and a light bar coupled to a bottom side of the backlight, thelight bar having plural light emitting diodes (LEDs) aligned at an uppersurface of the light bar to direct illumination into the backlight andhaving one or more downlight LEDs aligned at a lower surface of thelight bar to direct illumination out of the monitor housing and a lightguide disposed at an opening of the monitor housing and operable todirect illumination from the downlight LED's to a predetermined locationexternal to the display monitor housing.
 2. The information handlingsystem of claim 1 further comprising: a non-transitory memory; anddownlight instructions stored in the non-transitory memory andconfigured to execute on a processing element to control illumination ofthe downlight LEDs.
 3. The information handling system of claim 2wherein the processing element comprises the peripheral display monitorcontroller.
 4. The information handling system of claim 2 wherein theprocessing element comprises the embedded controller.
 5. The informationhandling system of claim 1 wherein the light bar comprises: a printedcircuit board extending along a length substantially of a length of thebacklight; plural backlight LED's coupled along the length of theprinted circuit board on an upper side directed into the backlight; andplural downlight LED's coupled at a central location of the printedcircuit board on a lower side of the printed circuit board and directedout the opening of the monitor housing.
 6. The information handlingsystem of claim 1 wherein the light guide comprises: a light guide platehaving an exposed upper surface and an exposed lower surface; and firstand second reflectors coupled to opposing side surfaces of the lightguide plate.
 7. The information handling system of claim 6 wherein thelight guide plate has a truncated pyramid shape.
 8. The informationhandling system of claim 6 wherein the light guide adjusts alignment ofthe light guide plate within the display monitor housing to adjust thepredetermined location.